The Empyrean Hangover
by seinka
Summary: What happens when Azphel and Ariel have to attend a war council and leave the rest of the Empyrean lords in one city? Rated M for usage of alcohol and inappropriate behavior.


"Cooperation?" a man in fourties with already grey hair and dark grey eyes raised his eyebrow. "Do I hear correctly you offer me a cooperation?"

"Yes," a woman dressed in white dress smiled and tucked a strand of her long white hair behind her ear. Her silver eyes were serious. "I suppose you know, Azphel, that even if they can't fly, the Reians are powerfull. Their technology exceeds ours in decades. Maybe more. So yes, we should cooperate. It can't be that difficult, we were one nation before."

"Yes, before you decided to sell us to the Balaur," Azphel grunted.

"That wasn't my decision, Azphel. And you know that. You were outvoted," Ariel objected. "And because you couldn't adhere to it, Siel and Israphel are dead and Atreia is torn apart."

"So it's my fault? Because you..."

"Stop arguing, you two?" Kahrun entered the room. "I summoned you here to devise a battle plan against the Balaur, not to listen to your quarrels about your wrongdoings in past. The real threat here are the Balaur. If we don't react as one, they will crush us all."

"Speaking of which, why did you invite only two of us?" Azphel asked.

"And why here in the Rancora fortress? Why not Kamar?" Ariel added.

"Because your people will do what you tell them," Kahrun replied. "And from here we can oversee all the situation better than from Kamar."

"Let's get started then," Azphel suggested. "I don't like the idea of Zikel and Nezekan being in one city without supervision."

"I agree," Ariel nodded.

"Garnon is there to ease any eventual conflict. Nothing can possibly happen," Kahrun said.

~ x ~

The next morning Ariel, Azphel and Kahrun returned to Kamar. They had a feeling something went wrong even before they came to the gates. The city was too quiet. And the guards were all asleep. They hurried to the Kahrun's palace. As expected, no one was awake. Under the stairs to Kahrun's throne they found Zikel sleeping on Izith, Nezekan's shield. He held his sword in a hand and had a Yustiel's flower crown on his head. And there was dry blood in his hair. Next to him lied Yustiel with bandages in her hand. As if she fell asleep in the middle of healing. On the right side of the platform in the middle of the stairs they found Vaizel in embrace with Garnon. Kahrun gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. On the left side, Marchutan and Kaisinel were sleeping among various empty or half-empty bottles and goblets from Kahrun's personal bar. He took a deep breath and looked around to find any other trials to test his patience. And found one. Lumiel, dressed only in a skirt and her white corset with embroidered snow flakes, was sitting on his throne and, of course, sleeping.

"What in the Balaur asses happened here?!" he roared.

"Aah... eeh..." Kaisinel groaned. "My head... be quiet..."

Ariel already tried to wake up Yustiel. She was in far better shape than Kaisinel, but still she felt dizzy.

"Lady Ariel?" she looked surprised. "What happened here?"

"That's what we would like to know. Where is Nezekan?" the Lady of Light asked.

"He was here... before..."

"Will you two shut up? Or my head explodes," Zikel grunted on the ground.

"Zikel, you're hurt!" Yustiel yelped. "I'll heal you right away!"

"I said, shut up!"

"Oh, Kahrun! What is going on here?" Garnon woke up and saw her leader. "And how did I..."

"Garnon, are you alright?" he helped her stand. "What happened here?"

"I can't remember. It seems we were drinking, but..."

"Well, it started with Zikel and Nezekan arguing about something, as usual," Lumiel descended from the throne. "Did you see my blouse somewhere?"

"Explain," Azphel ordered her.

"My blouse... eh, you mean the argument. Well, then..."

~ x ~

"_So you wanna fight?" Zikel grunted at Nezekan and drew his sword. "Then prepare to die, you sun-blasted asshole."_

"_How did you just called me?" Nezekan drew his weapons too. "Take it back or I shall kill you!"_

"_Guys, don't fight! Please!" Yustiel stepped between them. "You were friends once, weren't you?"_

"_Step aside, Yustiel, or I'll kill you too," Zikel told her._

"_I will not step aside, until you two sit and sheathe your weapons. This is neither time nor place for you to be fighting!"_

"_You think you can stop me with your peace talks?" Zikel snorted._

"_She's right," Triniel said coldly. "This is a neutral ground, we are guests here in Kamar. Do you really want to destroy this alliance?"_

"_Thank you, sister," Yustiel muttered._

"_He started it!"_

"_You insulted lady Ariel," Nezekan defended himself. "And then me."_

"_Well, he's insulting everyone, deal with it," Lumiel entered the conversation. "You two are both like teenagers with too much of ego and too little of reason. Calm down already."_

_An angry silence arose in the Kahrun' throne room._

"_The cards are telling me, you are cheating, Vaizel," Marchutan's calm voice suddenly echoed the room._

"_How clever cards," Vaizel grinned._

"_I'm not playing with you again," Marchutan collected his cards. "Ever."_

"_Hey, why are you all staring at us? Don't you have your own business?" Vaizel shouted at the others._

"_Dear Empyrean lords, please, don't fight here," Garnon entered the room. "Can I offer you peace-drinks and a peace-pipe?"_

~ x ~

"So we drank something tasteless and smoked the pipe. And that's the last thing I remember," Lumiel ended her recounting.

Everyone looked at Garnon.

"Where did you took the fillings for the peace-pipe?" Kahrun asked her.

"In your office, the shelf on the left."

"Why? I told you not to take that one! I was suspicious that it was contaminated by Lepharists, I wanted to send it for analysis!"

"No, Kahrun, you _didn't_ tell me that," Garnon frowned.

Kahrun facepalmed. "I forgot. Sorry."

"Fine, now we know why they remember nothing at all. But can someone tell me what happened? And where's Nezekan?" Ariel started to be hysterical.

"And Triniel," Azphel added. "Marchutan, do some divinations and find out."

"Yes, my lord," Marchutan sat on the stairs and tried to cast a spell. "Can I get some water? I can't concentrate."

Azphel gave him his waterskin for travels. Yustiel finished healing Zikel and hurried to them to examine Marchutan's state.

"He's completely exhausted," she said. "He won't be able to cast any spell for at least a day. But... I've seen something like this only once. Nezekan returnd from battle with Zikel and looked exactly like that. But that battle last for two days. And Marchutan looked fine yesterday. Was it yesterday, right?"

"How could you ruin yourself over one night as if you were in two days long battle?" Azphel was slowly losing his patience.

"I'm sorry, my lord, I have no idea."

"Fine. If you can't cast spells, use cards then," the Lord of Shadows decided.

"As you wish, my lord," Marchutan searched his pockets. "Where are my cards?"

"The last time I saw your clever cards they were up there," Vaizel pointed at the throne. Marchutan climbed the stairs and stared in a shock at his precious divinatory cards precisely arranged into a pyramid. Without a word he collected them, checked they weren't damaged, sat to the ground and shuffled the package.

Then he picked three cards at random and put them on the ground face up.

"So, this is what happened after the peace-pipe..."

~ x ~

"_It's kind of boring here, don't you think?" Lumiel asked Garnon after the pipe made second round._

"_Since you guys don't talk to each other, it's kind of expected," the Kahrun's assistant replied._

"_So we make a party!" Vaizel exclaimed._

"_That's unusually good idea from you," Lumiel grinned. "Marchutan, do you know any cool mantras?"_

"_What do you mean by _cool mantras_?" the Lord of Destiny looked at her suspiciously._

"_Just play us something so we can dance! Kash will surely help you."_

"_Don't call me Kash," Kaisinel protested. "And how do you expect me to help? I don't know any mantras."_

"_But you can create some great light show! Right?" Lumiel was still smiling. "And, Garnon, get us some decent drinks."_

"_I guess Kahrun won't mind if we drink one or two of his bottles," Garnon got up and went to Kahrun's office to find his personal stock of liquors._

"_When she returned with two bottles that looked much better than what they've been drinking until now, Marchutan was getting into his trance and in few minutes they all could hear music. Well, music wasn't exactly the correct word. It was more like Balaur wardrums combined with muses' harps, guard trumpets and tower bells. But no one seemed to mind. Empowered by the drinks and the pipe Lumiel, Vaizel, Yustiel, Kaisinel, Triniel and Garnon started dancing. Marchutan was playing his mantras, Zikel was drinking and Nezekan was sitting on the stairs and glaring at the dancers._

"_Heya, Zikel, come, dance!" Yustiel took his goblet and drank it._

"_No," Zikel frowned._

"_I told you so," Kaisinel shrugged._

"_Come on, it's fun!"_

"_No."_

"_Alright, as you wish," Yustiel sprinkled something into his hair. He didn't seem to notice. Then she sat with Kaisinel on a balustrade and cast a simple spell. In a moment his hair was covered with tiny blossoms of various bright colors. Then Kaisinel formed the aether and sent a pack of butterflies at him. Zikel tried to kill or shoo off the little creatures, but they only flickered and bothered him again. The two Seraphim lords almost fell from the balustrade laughing._

_Garnon brought two more bottles._

"_Why are you glaring so angrily at us, Nezie?" Lumiel sat next to Nezekan._

"_Look at them," he grunted and drank another gulp from his goblet._

"_You mean Trini and Vaizel?" Lumiel gave them a look. They were dancing, yes, but their movements were far from suitable for public performance. And considering they were both dressed in tight leathers, no wonder Nezekan was pissed. "Well, at least they are enjoying the dance. You should too."_

"_Enjoying the dance? You call that just enjoying the dance? He's trying to get her to bed!"_

"_Why don't you try it too, then?" she smiled._

"_I don't dance," he muttered._

"_Aah, that's a shame," she pressed herself to his side and touched his face. "Then you need another distraction."_

"_Stop it, Lumiel."_

"_If Trini can have fun, so can I, don't you think?" she sat on his lap._

_At that moment Triniel stopped dancing and glared at them. Then she turned and ran down from the stairs._

"_Now," Lumiel got up and cast a spell to immobilize Vaizel who tried to stop her. "What are you waiting for, go after her!"_

_She didn't have to say that twice. Nezekan jumped from the stairs and caught Triniel just before she reached the exit._

"_Let me go! Return to Lumiel, if you want her so much," Triniel raved._

"_I want you, Trin, not her," he said, embraced her and kissed her._

"_You want me? Then prove it," she kissed him too._

"_Prove it? How?"_

"_I don't care," she whispered between the kisses. "I want you to prove me how much you want me."_

_Nezekan found the door to Garnon's office and both disappeared there._

~ x ~

Marchutan stopped interpretting the meaning of the cards and everyone looked at the door to Garnon's office.

"Should I wake them up?" Vaizel masked his laughter with coughing.

"Don't you dare," Yustiel glared at him.

"Alright, we know where they are. Good," Azphel said. "Now tell us why the whole city is asleep."

"Yes, my lord," Marchutan drew another card. "So, after Triniel and Nezekan vanished..."

~ x ~

"_Why, Lumiel? Why did you ruin my only chance to get Triniel to bed?" Vaizel shouted angrily._

"_Come on, Vaizel, admit it. You never had any chance," Lumiel giggled._

"_I hate you so much. Who will dance with me now?"_

"_I can," Lumiel gave him a shining smile. "And Garnon can too, right? Come, Garnon."_

_They told Marchutan to play the mantras louder and danced again._

"_Why? Why her?" Kaisinel sniffed on the balustrade and drank directly from a bottle he was holding._

"_You know, he loves her. And she loves him," Yustiel patted his hair._

"_She doesn't love him. She betrayed him!"_

"_Ah, Kash," she sighed. "You want Nezekan to be happy, right? And he is happy now. Even if it's... well, not with you."_

"_But..."_

"_Hey, come, I know how to cheer you up," she got off the balustrade and sneaked to Marchutan, who was again in his mantra-trance. She snatched his pack of divinatory cards and brought them to Kaisinel. "Here."_

_Garnon noticed that Zikel, who already torn most of the flowers from his hair, drank most of the bottles she brought, so she supplied him and the others with more. Vaizel convinced Lumiel to take off her blouse and now he was dancing with it in his hand as if it was some trophy. She demanded for its return, but unsuccessfully._

_When the two Seraphim lords finished the card pyramid, Kaisinel went to find another bottle and Yustiel looked around the room and her gaze landed on Izith, Nezekan's shield. She whispered something to Kaisinel and went to retrieve it._

"_Hi, Zikel," she brought it to th Lord of Destruction._

"_What do you want?" he grunted._

"_I was just wondering... I bet you won't ride this shield from the throne down the stairs," her light grey eyes were an innocence itself._

"_What?"_

"_I bet Nezekan could do it, if he was present," she blinked several times._

"_Give it to me," he took the shield from her and carried it to the throne. There he stood on it and tried to preserve his balance._

"_And take your sword!" Yustiel dared him._

_Zikel took his sword and pushed off. At that moment Yustiel put her flower crown to his head and screamed: "Now!"_

_And Kaisinel conjured another pack of butterflies and sent them to fly around the Zikel's sword._

"_I'll kill you both!" he shouted at them. As he rode down the stairs, the tip of his sword pierced Lumiel's blouse which Vaizel was holding. Both of them lost their balance. Vaizel fell where he was standing and Garnon knelt beside him, concerned. Zikel fell all the half of the stairs and landed down on the floor._

"_Oh, Zikel!" Yustiel screamed and ran down the stairs to heal him._

_Lumiel was watching the pieces of her blouse falling slowly in the air, her eyes were widened in horror._

"_You. Are. Overdoing it!" she yelled and ascended to the throne. "If you don't know how to party, you should all go to sleep!"_

_And then she cast her spell._

~ x ~

"Sorry," Lumiel apologized. "I guess I underestimated the range."

"I will never leave you all in one place. Never," Azphel grunted. "I thought you were reasonable, but no. I left you alone for one night and what did you..."

"To our defense, we didn't destroy the city with fighting," Lumiel objected.

"Not that this is much different," Ariel frowned. "I really expected you, Yustiel, to be more mature."

"I'm sorry, lady Ariel."

~ x ~

Triniel was slowly waking up. Her head hurt like hell and she had no idea where she was.

"What... happened?" she muttered and sat.

"I don't remember, but it's pretty obvious," a familiar voice echoed behind her.

"Nezekan, what are you..." she turned to him and then realized, they were both naked and pieces of their clothes were in disarray all over the room. "Oh... there was some party, right?"

Nezekan nodded and smiled.

"Why are you smiling?"

"You still look beautiful."

"Dress up," she frowned and tossed him his pants. Then she looked for her own clothes.

After they both dressed up, Nezekan embraced her.

"What are you doing?" she asked but he remained silent. "When I came to you back then, you rejected me. What changed?"

"You said that yourself yesterday. This is a neutral ground," he replied and kissed her.


End file.
